Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea by Dejan s> Djokić (review)

Abstract

378 SEER, 82, 2, 2004 accurate, after the passage of so much time, they are an important historical record. Hence the real value of this book is the portraitwhich the son paints of his father. Taubman mines this memoir effectively for many of his pages about Khrushchev's personal life. Khrushchev the leader emerges as an irredeemably flawed man, riven with self-doubt and always fearful the Americans would take him for a fool. The memoir, understandably, omits almost all the outrageous language Khrushchev used to describe his interlocutors . One example will suffice: after meeting Harold Macmillan, the sadeyed BritishPrime Ministerin Moscow, Khrushchev,with a smirk,remarked that he had breached the temple of his virtue (to use a kinderphrase) with a telegraphpole. The book is replete with detail about Khrushchev'shome life and his love of animals. One of his favouriteswas a polar bear cub which parkeditself in the gateway of the dacha making entering a hazardous operation. This is the human side. The inhuman side was Khrushchev's role in the bloodletting under Stalin. The son does not try to pass over in silence the evil deeds his father perpetrated. However, there are events the reader would like to know more about. One is Stalin's death. Was he poisoned or was he deliberately denied medical aid by Khrushchev and the others?We shall probably never know as one presumeshejust did not discusssuch topicswith his son. This book is a goldmine for military buffs, especially those interested in rocket technology. This is not surprisingas Sergei was a top engineer with access to many secret projects. The incident of the MIG-ig jet which shot down the US U2 spyplane is covered in detail.A case of Soviet friendlyfire. London MARTIN MCCAULEY Djokic, Dejan (ed.). rugoslavism. Histories of a FailedIdea.Hurst & Company, London, 2003. xiii + 356 pp. Maps. Notes. Index. 1i6.95 (paperback). BYthe standardsof edited collections, this book was powerfullysteered by its editor, Dejan Djokic, towards a structuredre-examination of its theme. His task was not made easy by the contributors. Indeed as Djokic observes, the book offers an accidental insight into the 'state' (or confusion?) of former Yugoslavand Western,Yugoslav-sympathizing,academic communities,when tryingto conduct a post-mortemon a cherishedidea. The book gets off to a good startwith a characteristicallythoughtful essay by Dennison Rusinow on the genesis of Yugoslavism.Rusinow analyses the basic conflict which was always inherent between the belief of the early 'Illyrians' and their successors in the Habsburg empire that some kind of confederal Serb-Croat union was needed to protect the interestsof its South Slavs, and that of the Serbian state, which was franklyexpansionist. When WorldWarI elevated Yugoslavisminto a practicalpolitical prospect,political Serbia was somewhat contemptuous of the limits to central authorityimplied by any form of federalism.A robust contribution by Andrej Mitrovic on the politics of World War I brings out the importance of United States foreign policy in promoting the formation of a Yugoslav state as an alternative to other possible territorial outcomes of Great Power diplomacy; this theme REVIEWS 379 could have benefited from furtherdiscussion.The chaptersthat follow look at Yugoslavismfrom a series of nationally orientated perspectives. They do not contain a wealth of new material, save perhaps that of Hugh Poulton on Macedonians and Albanians. Dejan Jovic, discussing Yugoslavism in the context of Communist rule, introducessome usefulinsightsinto the influence of EdvardKardelj,and the Marxistreasoningbehind his reforms. The latter part of the book is disappointing, especially when dealing with Tito's Yugoslavia. Some contributions are interesting in their own right, particularly Andrew Wachtel's essay on Mestrovic and Andric, and the synthetic Yugoslavismsthey aimed to promote. John Lampe emphasizes the failure to create a rational economic union which could narrowthe regional development gap, as a result of Republic-centred industrialization programmes which proliferated overcapitalized regional autarchies.Jasna Dragovic -Soso's contributionaddresses,in the context of literarymovements, the inabilityeven of intellectualsto cohere againstthe counter-pressureof national rivalries.What ought to have been a key chapter,AleksandarPavkovic'sessay on 'Yugoslavia's last stand', trailed away into the inconsequence of Boris Vukobrat'svision of Yugoslavintegration,through cantonization and absorption into the European Union. In similarlyinconsequential mode, the book continues by including two...